ENIGMATIC NUBIAN MASK

I had been wanting to check out Senmuth for quite a while now and just recently decided to do so, not knowing what to expect. I usually dislike a lot of music in the Experimental/Post Metal genre, so I didn't have high hopes for this album or artist. Fortunately, I was surprised by some rather interesting music.

I would sum this album up as electronic world fusion metal. All the tracks on this album are very similar, and they all include ethnic instruments (real or synthesized/programmed; indigenous to somewhere, I suspect Nubia) and strong electronic elements of the drone and beat sorts, but also elements of metal. The metal elements on this album don't seem apparent at first, because it all just sounds like space-tribal music, but it actually is quite heavy. It's all instrumental also, which is how I personally prefer my metal most of the time.

I'm a huge fan of progressive electronic music, not a huge fan of world music, and a moderate fan of the metal sort; this was an exhausting listen. After the first couple of listens I was finally able to grasp onto what is going on in the music, which really isn't too much besides the elements mentioned above in super dense mode.

There isn't much in the way of standout tracks on this album, but it does flow nicely. If there were a standout track, I'd say it would be "Nobinwago" because the melody that it starts off with is sort of infectious and kind of beautiful. This album sounds like when the aliens came and destroyed ancient Maya civilizations for insufficient sacrificing of women and corn liquor.

I honestly found this to be quite enjoyable, and any other fans of electronic world metal would probably enjoy it too. Also, this is a free album, as are all of Senmuth's albums, so you're not risking anything by listening and possibly enjoying this interesting music. I would suggest this to anyone looking for something "new" or "different" sounding, but I don't think I would call it essential.

Also, good luck finding your potential favorite Senmuth album; he's released a vast quantity that an army of Mayans led by Odysseus wouldn't attempt to journey.